A ground-breaking nature documentary putting the spotlight on Malta’s biodiversity was launched recently. Titled Man Marries Nature and directed by Ryan Gatt, the documentary has been three years in the making and features high-definition footage of all forms of Maltese biodiversity.

The project is the brainchild of marine biologist and university senior lecturer Dr Alan Deidun. Screenwriter Paul De Leonardo wrote the script of the documentary, which was produced by 360 pictures and Jana Kovacova, and co-produced by Daniel Thornton in collaboration with and partly funded by the Maltese National Commission for UNESCO.

Covering the country’s biodiversity meant film-makers had to film every nook and cranny of the islands at different times of the day and night, with the documentary consuming hundreds of hours of filming shot under camping tents, on boats, fixed-wing planes, in all sorts of unconventional locations.

The result, Dr Deidun said, was a “stunning and unprecedented” window into Malta’s natural environment, which would introduce Maltese students and the public at large to some of the most elusive local animal species, such as the wild rabbit, leopard snake, hedgehog, ocellated skink, geckos, Cetti’s warbler, the chukar quail and a diverse array of birds of prey and migrant and resident bird species.

A copy will be distributed free to all schools with the aim of arousing in youngsters a greater awareness of their natural environment and the biodiversity it hosts and exploding the myth that Malta’s biodiversity lacks variety. The need for this was especially dire, according to Dr Deidun, since local students were only exposed to foreign nature documentaries. A further objective of the documentary is to promote the Maltese Islands as a quintessential eco tourism destination.